SOCCER-FIFA/MEETING FIFA executive committee meets in Zurich

Record ID: 146418

  • Title: SOCCER-FIFA/MEETING FIFA executive committee meets in Zurich
  • Date: 20th July 2015
  • Summary: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (JULY 20, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS VIEWS OF RIVER LIMMAT SIGN, READING: "FIFA STREET" MEDIA OUTSIDE ENTRANCE TO FIFA HEADQUARTERS SIGN, READING: "FIFA. INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL" EXTERIOR OF FIFA FLAGS OUTSIDE FIFA ENTRANCE FLAG, READING: "MY GAME IS FAIR PLAY" DOMENICO SCALA ARRIVING AT FIFA AND DRIVING INTO UNDERGROUND CAR PARK F
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADV79WATZH9PKNMX60ZR58SFPK
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Zurich plays host to a FIFA executive committee meeting later on Monday (July 20) at the headquarters of soccer's governing body.
    Media were gathered outside FIFA from the early hours ahead of the meeting, which begins at 0800GMT.
    On Sunday (July 19), FIFA officials gave no clues over what to expect from the meeting which is expected to choose a date for the presidential election and discuss reforms to soccer's discredited governing body.
    FIFA president Sepp Blatter chaired a preliminary meeting of the presidents of the six continental confederations, their first since his shock announcement on June 2 that he intended to quit.
    However, none of the officials returning to the luxurious Baur au Lac hotel would comment on how the meeting went or what was discussed.
    Those included UEFA president Michel Platini, widely expected to be one of the candidates to replace Blatter who has been in power since 1998.
    The former France captain, who has repeatedly ducked out of discussing a possible candidacy ever since Blatter's announcement, smiled at reporters in the hotel lobby but would not make any comment on his plans.
    Platini, once seen as a Blatter protege, has turned against the 79-year-old Swiss and is now among his leading critics.
    Blatter was re-elected for a fifth term on May 29, only to announce four days later that he would lay down his mandate at an extraordinary FIFA Congress which will take place between December and February.
    The Congress will choose a new president, Blatter having repeatedly said that he will not stand. Candidates must declare their intention to stand, and present support, four months before the election.
    The exact date is set to be decided on Monday at a meeting of FIFA's executive committee.
    UEFA is the biggest continental block on FIFA's executive committee with eight of the 25 places and has given little away over what it will negotiate for, although it appears to favour an early election in December to begin the reforms as quickly as possible.
    However, Blatter has already said that a December election would clash with the Club World Cup, a FIFA tournament in Japan, and that he would prefer it to take place in January.
    Monday's meeting must also discuss proposed reforms to the FIFA statutes which will be recommended by Blatter and Domenico Scala, head of FIFA's watchdog audit and compliance committee.
    Scala wants these reforms to include changes in the way the executive committee is chosen as well as integrity checks for members, potentially leading to a clash with UEFA.
    The executive committee will be at least one short of its 25 voting members on Monday after Brazil's Marco Polo del Nero said he was staying at home to attend to domestic issues.
    Del Nero, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, also missed the FIFA Congress in May in Zurich. He left Switzerland shortly after his predecessor Jose Maria Marin was among seven people arrested at their hotel after being indicted on corruption charges in the United States.
    Marin and five others are still detained while Switzerland considers a request from the United States for their extradition.
    The seventh, former FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, has already been extradited and on Saturday (July 18) pleaded not guilty in a U.S federal court and was released on a $10 million bond.
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